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ENERGYbits and The Amazing Algae: Nature’s Most Potent Superfood

Let’s talk about algae. I recently had the pleasure of chatting with Catharine Arnston, founder of ENERGYbits algae company, on CHTV. What makes Catherine’s story exciting to me is that it sounds similar to mine:

Catharine started ENERGYbits seven years ago, after her younger sister was diagnosed with breast cancer. She was advised by her oncologist that an alkaline, plant-based diet would help her heal. In the process of helping her sister, Catharine learned about the amazing health benefits of a plant-based diet. She found a new passion in life and felt others could benefit from this priceless information. Even though she has an MBA, she gave up her 25-year corporate career with no hesitation to return to school. Catherine went on to study nutrition and is now a certified health counselor and Reiki master.

I discovered my passion for health after I became sick myself, so I totally understand why she does what she does. We often take our health for granted until we become sick. At that point, nothing else matters and we are determined to get better. Once you find something that works, you want to share it with the world.

After graduating, Catharine taught nutrition for a year, gave free workshops, and started what she called Green Revolutions, where she encouraged her students and workshop attendees to eat more greens.

Catherine soon discovered a few things about greens: many people didn’t want to clean them, didn’t want to cook them, and simply didn’t like them. The MBA inside her understood she couldn’t force this product onto people. Instead, she had to “find something that gives them all the green nutrition they need that doesn’t taste green and doesn’t take any work.” This is when she discovered algae in tablet form.

To her pleasant surprise, she soon learned that algae is the most nutrient-dense food in the world and the most alkaline. Coming in at 64% protein and only one calorie (per tablet), algae is endorsed by NASA and the United Nations as the most nutritionally dense food on the planet. There’s only one problem: algae is virtually unknown outside of Asia. Nobody knew about it. Even though it’s been sold here for 50 years, the packaging has never explained what it does, its health benefits, or who should consume it.

Once again, Catherine’s business background came in handy: “I spent the first two years going through the science and basically rewriting everything into sound bites that people could understand. Then I had to try to find a customer group that would want to get these benefits. It took many, many years. Eventually, it turns out that the running community loved the product because it gave them energy and focus.” This revelation prompted Catharine to evolve into a sports nutrition company.

The Health Benefits of Algae

Algae is a bonafide superfood. It has 40 vitamins and minerals, is 64% protein, and a good source of omega-3’s and iron. Here are a few benefits of algae:

High iron content. Iron is one of the most common forms of nutritional deficiencies. According to the World Health Organization, over 30% of the world’s population is anemic, affecting more people than any other condition.1

A person can be iron deficient and not realize it. Commons signs of iron deficiency include the following:

  • Weakness
  • Pale skin
  • Dizziness
  • Urges to eat non-food items like dirt, ice or clay
  • Tingling in the legs
  • Swollen or sore tongue
  • Fatigue

Algae offers the highest concentration of iron. This is important for athletes because iron is what carries oxygen in the blood, and if a person doesn’t have sufficient iron, they can become fatigued. Young women who are easily fatigued may have low iron levels, and running on cement can dissipate iron in the blood, which can increase the risk of fatigue as well. Having enough iron is essential for good health, and algae is an excellent source for athletes and sedentary individuals alike.

Fatty acids. Algae is rich in the fatty acids omega-3 and GLA. This is important because our brains are composed primarily of fat, so we need healthy fats to be able to think and function properly.

Symptoms of omega 3 deficiency include the following:

Heart disease and cerebrovascular disease were ranked the first and fourth leading causes of death respectively in the United States. An increase in the consumption of fatty acids is believed to help decrease these numbers.2

B vitamins. B vitamins convert glucose into energy, allowing us to stay energized. Algae is composed of all the B vitamins, making it an ideal energy source.

Vitamin A. Algae contains vitamin A, which helps fight free radicals and anti-aging.

Nitric oxide. Nitric oxide opens the blood vessels, allowing blood, oxygen and other nutrients to travel freely throughout the body, thus minimizing fatigue.

Protein. The protein in algae is among the highest in the world. Protein is a great source for energy because it’s slow to digest. It enters the blood stream at a very even pace, eliminating the rush and crashes many experience when consuming carbs or sugar.

With algae, there is nothing for the body to break down in order for the protein, GLA, B vitamins and other nutrients to be absorbed into the blood stream.

The Creation of ENERGYbits

Catherine started her sports nutrition company ENERGYbits after realizing her products were extremely popular with athletes, providing them energy and focus. They also noticed many athletes were starting to prefer protein over carbs: it doesn’t upset their stomach like the sugary gels and bars do. When exercising, all the enzymes that would normally be in your stomach to digest food are busy doing other things like delivering oxygen to exercising limbs.

This product did not upset their stomachs like other sports products that contain caffeine, artificial chemicals or sugar. Many elite athletes are realizing that the carb-based (or carb loading) diets are not the most efficient way to achieve top performance. Instead, there’s a new emphasis on ketogenic training, which is fat and protein-based.

Many elite athletes are discovering this, but Catherine knew the average person may not know about algae or understand what it does. She knew the success of the product relied on making algae as simple and understandable as possible.

For example, the name ENERGYbits is referring to the algae spirulina because it gives you energy. RECOVERYbits received its name because the algae chlorella is an immune builder that helps athletes (or anyone) recover from anything, including physical stress.

Over the years, people have assumed I do not like products like algae but that’s not true. I think algae is an amazing superfood. However, much of the algae on the market today is contaminated with environmental pollutants. In the world of detoxification, I also had some concerns, but Catherine’s product ENERGYbits passed because it pulls a lot of the different toxins that harm the body.

NOTE: To be clear, I do not believe algae is a TRUE binder, like CytoDetox™ which has been shown to attach to cellular toxins and clear them from the body. I do believe pure and uncontaminated algae products like ENERGYbits are an excellent detox support, and can also be very helpful to take while fasting, if one is struggling to get through a fast.

Learn more about Cyto here.

What makes ENERGYbits and RECOVERYbits products so exciting is they are the only ketogenic sports nutrition product on the current market. Everything else is primarily carb-based.

Catherine is especially fond of spirulina: “I was stunned to discover that both the overall nutrient profile of spirulina and the amino acid profile, in particular, is virtually identical to mother’s milk. Everyone in the world knows that mother’s milk is the perfect food. Guess what? Spirulina is almost identical. That explains why it’s so good for people.

“Mother’s milk and spirulina algae are the only two foods that you could live on forever. It’s such a complex mix of not just vitamins, but also the minerals. Spirulina was the first plant life on earth almost three billion years ago, and they have fossils to prove that. It releases oxygen when it’s growing. After millions and billions of years, there was enough oxygen on earth that other life forms could occur. It then led to chlorella, which is the next on the food chain.”

Catherine is fond of chlorella as well:

“Chlorella came later, probably billions of years after spirulina, and it is truly a plant. It does have a cellulose wall on the outside of it. While it also has 40 vitamins and minerals, they’re in different proportions, and they do a different thing in your body. Chlorella will not give you energy, satisfy your hunger, or give you focus. Instead it builds your immune system.

“The spirulina has the highest concentration of protein in the world, but chlorella has the highest concentration of chlorophyll. Now chlorophyll is well known to be a blood builder. The chemical composition of chlorophyll is absolutely identical to the chemical composition of hemoglobin, with the exception of one atom.”

When we eat foods high in chlorophyll, we are nurturing our blood. As we all know, blood is critical to life, and RECOVERYbits help build and strengthen the immune system. It was originally thought that sardines had the highest concentration of RNA DNA in the world, but chlorella actually holds that distinct title.

RNA and DNA are important because our cells are constantly dying off either through being attacked by antioxidants or just from aging. If you don’t have healthy RNA and DNA, they will grow back damaged, and that leads to illness. If we’re constantly getting fresh RNA and DNA that help your cells grow back healthier, it actually helps us stay healthy. In Asia, it’s known as the Fountain of Youth because it helps reduce aging properties.

Even with all the amazing benefits described, a person may still wonder what makes algae the perfect food? Out of all the foods on the planet, how was this chosen as such? When we think about life, it’s important that we start with water, and how that feeds fish. Then we consider how fish feed and how this is the start of the food chain.

When looking at it from an ecological perspective, it doesn’t surprise me that everything starts with algae. This may prompt some to grow their own algae like vegetables from a garden, but it’s important to note that not all algae is safe for human consumption. There are 15,000 strains of algae, and spirulina and chlorella are two of only a handful that are not poisonous. A person may be tempted to get algae from their swimming pool or local swamp but that algae is not edible. Algae must be grown in a clean environment so no contaminants can be absorbed.

Algae and Supplements

Many today are taking nutritional supplements. The National Institute of Health reports that sales of all dietary supplements totaled $36.7 billion in 2014. The vitamin and mineral segment saw sales of $14.3 billion.3 As more people are encouraged to consume supplements for good health, the question that should be asked is “are they effective?”

It’s important to note that many companies add artificial ingredients and colors to their supplements. For example, vitamins and pills come in an assortment of colors, but those artificial dyes can be hazardous to a person’s health. Studies indicate the consumption of synthetic food colors and their ability to bind with body proteins can have significant immunological consequences.4

Another concern consumers must deal with is deceptive labeling practices. In the past ten years, the Federal Trade Commission has filed over 120 claims against companies of falsely using natural ingredients in their supplements.5

A person may think the supplements are helping when they are doing more harm than good. Catharine suggests we skip the supplements and eat the algae instead:

“There are so many vitamins and minerals in algae that when you take the algae every day, you do not need any other supplements. Again, it saves you money because you’re not having to buy all those fish oils, multi-vitamins, calcium, or magnesium. It’s all in the algae.”

See the best magnesium supplements here. Another reason vitamins and supplements should be avoided is because algae is a food. It comes from nature, your body can recognize everything that’s in it and you’ll absorb 99.9% of the nutrients.

This is not the case when taking supplements. Using vitamin C as an example, there’s 282 pieces to vitamin C, of which ascorbic acid is one of them. When you just have ascorbic acid in your vitamin, your body’s going, “Hey, where are the co-factors and the factors? I don’t know what to do with this stuff. It’s all by itself?”

An example is our clothing: we don’t just wear shoes to work, we wear an ensemble. The same philosophy applies to vitamins and nutrition. When you isolate things from vitamins like ascorbic acid and don’t include the other complementary nutrients, it’s like going to work without shoes. You’re missing something.

I believe this approach to eating and health is the best way unless we’re pushing something in a specific direction. I’m critical of the green foods, but this algae is one of the most perfect foods. We’ve tested many of the green foods and the red foods, and I find oftentimes they are not what they’re cracked up to be. With that said, this is just the opposite. ENERGYbits are is the real thing. Powdered, dehydrated and pricey vegetable drinks simply don’t compare.

For those who want to try algae but are leery of eating actual algae, it can be swallowed in a tiny tablet form. Unlike traditional supplements, this is pure algae – a food – with no additives or added ingredients.

An Effective Detox Support

Algae is an ideal food for many reasons. Not only does chlorella strengthen the immune system, it pulls toxins including lactic acid, making it great for athletes. Many times, a person will be sore the day after a workout due to a buildup of lactic acid. Or, a person can inadvertently eat fish that has mercury contamination. Chlorella can detect each and help to remove both, along with using a true binder like CytoDetox™. While spirulina gets into your blood stream almost instantly, Chlorella takes approximately ninety minutes to fully be absorbed.

Again, it’s important to note that chlorella is a detoxifier, not a true binder. This is a good thing because if it were a true binder, it would not provide the nutrition benefits and wouldn’t work the way it does.

In a few instances, a person will experience a “healing crisis” when they take chlorella and the body starts to detoxify and toxins circulate. This doesn’t happen to everyone, but a small percentage of people may experience temporary bouts of nausea. Catharine reminds: “It’s much better to get those toxins out where they’re damaging your cells and you don’t know about it until it’s too late.”

It’s also important to look at the big picture. There are many drugs in our society, and while they do tests on their effects, few tests are conducted on what may happen if those drugs interact with other drugs or harmful toxins in the environment. Much of the illness we see in our society could be due to the dangerous, synergistic mix of toxins in our environment that accumulate in our cells. If the chlorella can help pull some of these toxins out on a gradual basis, it can help people live longer, healthier lives.

Use and Dosages

To reap the benefits of these amazing products, Catherine suggests the following dosages per day for the average person:

  • 30 ENERGYbits
  • 30 RECOVERYbits

The bits can be compared to eating nuts, seeds, or berries: a person wouldn’t eat one, they’d eat a handful or two. They can be eaten with nuts or berries as well, making them a nice snack or light meal for adults and children alike.

Another great benefit: if a person takes algae daily, they may not need many other supplements like minerals or fish oil. Taking 30 ENERGYbits before a workout or to start your day can provide a steady stream of energy, without the crash some feel after eating too many carbs. They can also be taken anytime a person needs an energy boost or while intermittent or block fasting to maintain energy.

Catharine suggests taking RECOVERYbits in the evening because the body’s cleansing, detox cycle is at night. RECOVERYbits are a great detox support, and can help the body detoxify more efficiently.

Unlike some products that offer specific instructions on when to consume them, these can be taken either on an empty stomach or with food. ENERGYbits are the perfect food for intermittent fasting, or those in ketosis or on a Cellular Healing diet. They won’t interrupt your fast or cause a glucose spike. If anything, The algae could lower glucose!

The only suggestion is to consume with a full glass of water to prevent feelings of queasiness. Depending on preference, the bits can be either chewed or swallowed.

As noted, algae is at the beginning if the food chain, meaning fish have been eating it since the beginning of time. Our pets can eat it as well. Since giving them to my pups, their coats shine, eyes are clearer, and they have fresher breath.

Algae is a best kept secret. It is the ultimate superfood that has many amazing benefits for everyone, whether a person is a high-performance athlete or more sedentary. Personally, I love chewing them (just watch out for the green teeth effect!), and I like taking a handful of ENERGYbits before I work out.

We firmly believe the body can heal itself, provided it has what it needs to do the work. No product does the healing, but when cells get the right support tools, magic starts to happen.

Try algae today. Your body will thank you!

How to get ENERGYbits:

ENERGYbits can be purchased as a single serving or a month-long supply. The individual servings come with a small tin, making them easy to carry in a briefcase, purse, or lunchbox.

Catherine’s website is energybits.com. If you enter in our promo code ‘CHTV’ (short for Cellular Healing TV) checkout, and you’ll get 20% off your purchase. Thanks, Catharine!

  1. “Micronutrient deficiencies.” WHO – World Health Organization. http://www.who.int/nutrition/topics/ida/en/.
  2. Papanikolaou, Yanni, James Brooks, Carroll Reider, and Victor L. Fulgoni. “U.S. adults are not meeting recommended levels for fish and omega-3 fatty acid intake: results of an analysis using observational data from NHANES 2003–2008.” Nutrition Journal. April 2, 2014. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3992162/.
  3. “Office of Dietary Supplements – Multivitamin/mineral Supplements.” National Institutes of Health. July 8, 2015. https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Mvms-HealthProfessional/.
  4. Vojdani, A., and C. Vojdani. “Immune reactivity to food coloring.” Alternative therapies in health and medicine. 2015. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25599186.
  5. “Health Claims.” Health Claims | Federal Trade Commission. https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/media-resources/truth-advertising/health-claims.

Cellular Healing Diet: 1-Week Menu Plan

Eat your way to your best ever health with this Cellular Healing Diet seven-day menu plan, loaded with delicious foods to heal your cells from the inside out. This basic diet plan contains fun and easy breakfast, lunch, snack, and dinner ideas and Pompa-family approved recipes, including optional desserts and a variation for those who would like to practice intermittent fasting (learn more about intermittent fasting here).

Download the 7-Day Diet Plan Now

What is the Cellular Healing Diet?

In essence, the Cellular Healing Diet is a lifestyle diet that eliminates inflammatory foods and embraces whole foods that heal cells from the inside out. The diet focuses on consuming good fats (like quality sources of saturated fat and cholesterol), moderate amounts of healthy proteins (i.e. grass-fed and pastured animals), and lots of organic leafy greens and a variety of non-starchy vegetables. Starchy vegetables, grass-fed dairy, legumes, fermented foods, nuts, seeds, and low-glycemic fruits are consumed in moderation. Healthy sweets, like dark chocolate or stevia-sweetened desserts, can be enjoyed sparingly.

Here’s an overview:

Download the Cellular Healing Diet Food Pyramid

Why the Cellular Healing Diet Works

The Cellular Healing Diet has given tens of thousands of people around the world increased health and vitality and produced major weight-loss for three reasons:

  • It down-regulates cellular inflammation (R4), the root cause of most every modern disease (see more on inflammation here). Toxic foods inflame us at the cellular level causing body-wide health disturbance and a myriad of symptoms. Decreasing cellular inflammation is one of the major keys to support the healing of most disease today.
  • It produces cellular detoxification, because it supports the regeneration of the cell membrane. PompaCore Cellular Detox™ can only occur at the cellular level, by means of a healthy cell membrane. If nutrients can’t move in and out of the cell due to an inflamed membrane, the cell becomes toxic and you will struggle with weight-loss resistance (wherein diet and exercise do not impact stubborn pounds).
  • It supports hormone regulation. Weight-loss is all about hormones, as I’ve said many times. Our hormone receptors reside on cell membranes and provide cell-to-cell communication, but are often blunted by toxins or damaged by toxic fats. The Cellular Healing Diet includes foods that support the body’s natural detox process, and is loaded with good fats to heal and regenerate inflamed membranes to naturally balance hormones which leads to ideal weight.

  My Basic Rules for Cellular Healing Diet Success

Keep it simple with these three essential diet tenants to get fast results.

#1. If you can’t read it, don’t eat it.

  • Foods listed in Leviticus 11 as unclean
  • Man-made fats (such as hydrogenated oils)
  • Processed foods laden with preservatives and chemicals

  #2. If man changed it, exchange it.

  #3. If you can’t do without it, throw it out.

  Next: Make the Three Changes

Now you may be wondering, “What can I eat?” No need to worry, the foods you’ll be enjoying are delicious and have the benefit of dramatically improving your cellular health. I have no doubt that making the following foundational shifts will radically increase your health, vitality, and support optimal weight.

#1. Remove bad fats and replace them with good fats.

Scary fact: the half-life of trans fats (a partially hydrogenated vegetable oil), found in foods like french fries, is 51 days. This means that after 51 days, only half of the negative effects of this man-made fat have been processed by the body. An additional 51 days (totaling 102 days) are needed to remove the majority of this toxic fat. Makes you think twice before downing that plate of fries, eh?

Man-made fats like hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated vegetable oils, margarine, and trans fats are used as cheap alternatives to extend the shelf life of foods replacing natural, good fats. These oils denature very easily, since they are sensitive to heat and light, and are likely rancid before they make their way into your kitchen or restaurant meal.

Vegetable oils also cause cellular congestion, and are a huge health concern due to their wide-spread and excessive consumption. These oils are linked to chronic inflammation, and may even lead to cancer, heart disease, stroke, diabetes, neurotoxic syndrome, chronic fatigue, and other serious diseases. But the solution is simple: make an oil change. Remove the bad fats and replace them with good fats. Good fats are the most lacking nutrient in the modern American diet, and are essential to hormone production and balance, low inflammation, and weight-loss.

Toxic fats: Hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils, trans fats, GMO canola, corn, cottonseed and soybean oils.

Good fats: Organic, cold-pressed coconut oil and other coconut products, cold-pressed olive oil, grass-fed butter, MCT oil, avocado oil, grass-fed tallow, grape seed oil, and palm oil (plus healthy fats naturally found in whole foods).

  • See more on healthy fats and whole foods fats here.
  • Get tasty recipe ideas for adding more good fat to your diet here.

  #2. Change the meats you eat.

You aren’t what you eat: you’re what you eat ate. There is an important distinction between conventional meat and organic, grass-fed meat: the difference lies in the fatty acid ratio. Scientists now believe that a meat’s ratio of fatty acids, like omega 3 and omega 6, is more important than the measure of the singular fatty acids themselves.

For example, cows were designed to eat grass. When fed an unnatural diet of grain, changes occur in the cow’s fatty acid ratio and denature the good fats into bad fats. Conventionally raised animals have fatty acid ratios greatly disproportionate to those of organic, grass-fed animals. When conventional meat is consumed by humans, the unbalanced fatty acid ratio contributes to a myriad of health problems, such as hormonal issues, skin conditions, Type 2 diabetes, and slower brain development and ADHD in children.

Moreover, hundreds of current studies link conventionally produced meats to cancer and heart disease. The bio-accumulation of commercial pesticides, herbicides, antibiotics and hormones in meats is disturbing, and far higher than those found in commercial vegetables. Grass-fed and pastured animal protein tastes much better than conventional meat anyway, and when purchasing you’re voting against the inhumane animal feeding operations that are destroying our physical and planetary health.

Avoid: Factory farmed animal products

Consume: Local, organic, grass-fed and pastured meats and eggs, and wild caught, low-mercury fish. Low mercury fish include salmon, sardines, mussels, rainbow trout, and Atlantic mackerel.

#3. Remove ALL processed grains and sugars.

Eliminating sugar and everything that the body turns into sugar (aka grains) may be challenging, but often makes the most dramatic impact on health and weight-loss efforts. But is sugar really that bad? And what’s the problem with whole grains? Let me explain briefly.

Did you know that eating two slices of whole grain bread raises blood sugar just as much as drinking a 12-ounce can of soda? Grain products such as bread, pasta, and crackers quickly turn into sugar in the body and promote cellular inflammation. Grains also contain anti-nutrients, the plant’s innate self-defense mechanisms, which can make them difficult to digest and assimilate. And what’s worse, most grains today are genetically modified (GMOs), a process that causes the denaturing of proteins and carbohydrates to the point that the body no longer recognizes them as food. The immune system creates an inflammatory reaction in response to consuming GMOs, creating an ideal environment for illness to arise.

Now let’s mention sugar. If you want to age faster than anyone in your neighborhood, simply raise your blood glucose by eating plenty of refined sugar (and grains). Sugar is an anti-nutrient, comparable to grains, and interferes with the absorption of other important nutrients. Refined sugar also unnaturally spikes and elevates levels of glucose and the hormones insulin and leptin, often leading to insulin and leptin resistance. When this state of resistance occurs, your cells cannot “hear” what the hormones are telling them to do in order to function properly. Hormone resistance not only leads to premature aging, but to diabetes, heart disease, the inability to lose weight, and more. Sugars and grains also lower immune system function, and promotes systemic yeast overgrowth (Candida), which has terrible side effects like thrush, vaginitis, and skin outbreaks. Toxic stuff, folks.

Eliminate: bread, pasta, crackers, chips, cookies, cereal, pastries, muffins, pretzels, candy bars, sugary desserts, ect.

To sweeten foods: Natural stevia, and small amounts raw honey, grade b maple syrup, erythritol, and non GMO xylitol.

See more on ridding your pantry of toxic foods like refined sugars and processed grains here: link pantry article

That’s it! This menu plan and diet overview provides a basic diet plan framework for beginning to follow the Cellular Healing Diet. For more in-depth information and recipes, get my book here: link. Enjoy and cheers to your best cellular health!

For an in-depth look at the diet and over 90 recipes, get my Cellular Healing Diet book here.

Notes on the Basic Diet Plan:

Simple Avocado Dressing

Simple Avocado Dressing
  • 1 avocado, pitted and skin removed
  • 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
  • 3 cloves fresh garlic
  • Juice of 1 lemon
  • 1/2 tsp. sea salt
  • 3/4 cup filtered water
  1. Put all ingredients in blender and mix thoroughly until smooth.
  2. Thin with water if desired.
  3. Enjoy over salad, veggies, or protein.
  4. Keep refrigerated in a jar for about 3 days.

Banana Coconut Macaroons

eat fat lose fat

  • 2 large, ripe bananas, well mashed
  • 2 cups finely shredded, unsweetened, coconut flakes
  • ¼ cup coconut flour
  • 1/3 cup coconut oil, melted
  • 2-3 Tbsp. raw honey
  • 1-2 tsp. vanilla extract
  • 1 tsp. cinnamon
  • 1 Tbsp. grass-fed gelatin (optional)
  • Pinch of sea salt
  1. Preheat oven to 350° F.
  2. Place all ingredients in bowl and mix thoroughly until paste forms.
  3. Form into cookies, garnish with coconut flakes, and place on baking sheet greased with coconut oil (or lined with parchment paper).
  4. Bake 17-20 minutes, or until golden brown.
  5. Allow to cool and enjoy!

 

Health Biohacks for Performance by Ben Greenfield

Recently, my best friend and business partner Warren Phillips and I took part in CalJam, a high energy health seminar where practitioners gather and share the latest in natural health information and technology. Warren and I caught up with our friend Ben Greenfield, famed personal trainer, athlete, and public speaker. We’ve interviewed Ben in the past on the benefits that a keto diet can bring to athletes. You can read more about on the topic here and watch our podcast here.

Traveling to CalJam reminded us how challenging it can be to maintain the health standards we’ve set up at home on the road, which includes vacationers and those who work outside of the home too. Once we leave the house, we are surrounded by fast foods loaded with toxins, sugars, and bad fats. Hotel living and busy schedules often restrict our ability to prepare meals and limit toxin exposure. With this in mind, Ben, Warren, and I took some time out to share biohacks we personally use to stay on track while traveling, plus a few we use at home too.

Biohacks for Travel Stress: Tapping

Traveling, even when heading for a favorite vacation spot, often raises stress levels. Crazy flight times, long hours in airports, traveling with children, trying to do business on the go, jet lag and more can make it difficult to maintain an emotional balance, leaving us feeling fatigued and anxious and often dysregulates sleep. Tapping, also called EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) is a stress management technique that uses finger tapping onto specific meridian points of the body in combination with focused words. Tapping might sound a bit out there, however, studies have shown that tapping does have benefits toward lowering stress levels1, making EFT a great tool for helping to combat travel stress. Tapping is self-administered, and the small amount of non-formal training required is readily available online at no cost, though there are some great books that delve deeply into this self-healing technique. Tapping is a very handy tool, demonstrated to help deal with old emotional trauma, new trauma, stress, fatigue, emotional instability, insomnia, weight issues, and a host of physiological conditions.

Our interview with Catherine Garceau on CHTV is full of valuable information on the many beneficial effects of EFT, including detailed instructions on how to incorporate tapping into your life right away. Warren used tapping at CalJam to help adjust from the fatigue of jet lag, which Ben discusses in the podcast. I’ve personally found it easy and helpful. Ben notes, “[Tapping is] one of my go-to methods for when you need to affect change, and you have no coffee, you have no supplements, no giant kale smoothie that you can make. And it’s very, very simple.” Be sure to check out CHTV Episode 118 to learn more about EFT, and how former Olympian Catherine Garceau used it to help heal deep-seated trauma. The accompanying article includes an informative map of the meridian points involved in tapping.

Biohacks for Dining Out

Like most folks, I prefer home cooked meals over most restaurant food, but sometimes it just can’t be helped. I travel a lot, speaking all over the country about PompaCore Cellular Detox™ and a Multi-Therapeutic Approach to healing, and maintaining a healthy diet and minimizing toxin exposure can be difficult when home is far away. If you’ve read just about any of the articles on my website, you know how I stress the importance of eliminating the sources of toxins, from poor diet to heavy metals and a legion of other harmful compounds that interfere with our cells’ ability to function properly. It’s called R1: Remove the Source, the very first step in taking back your health. Though I call it the first step, it’s not actually a one-off. Once you identify the toxins in your life, the work to minimize them is continual, and why it’s so crucial to do all you can to keep from retoxifying cells you’ve worked so hard to detox. To that end, be sure to incorporate these health hacks for dining out that Warren, Ben, and I put into action.

Biodynamic Wines

Did you know that in addition to the many pesticides that get sprayed onto conventionally grown wine grapes, wine producers may add up to about 80 additives to the wine itself? That includes tannins, stabilizers, and sulfites, a known allergen. Several of these additives are blamed for causing the headaches and sleeplessness that we experience when enjoying a little wine with dinner. The last thing you need when traveling is sleep issues! To combat the unpleasant effects of wine, we choose biodynamic wine.

The biodynamic method of producing starts at the growing level, emphasizing a systemic and sustainable way of caring for and harvesting the grapes. It’s an old method that predates organic growing and also exceeds organic in many ways. Additives, including sulfites, are not permitted in biodynamic production. This results in a more natural wine has great taste, and seems to contribute less to the unpleasant headaches and sleeplessness for which wine is known. Ask your waiter if the restaurant carries certified biodynamic wines. Even better, call around first to find restaurants in the area that serve these high quality wines. My personal favorite line of wines is Dry Farm wines, learn more about these keto-friendly wines and how to try them for yourself here.

Biohacks for eating while traveling:  Restaurants & Bad Oils

It’s well known that oils used in fast food chains are abysmally bad for your health and should be avoided. Perhaps less well known and discussed is how often similarly oxidized, harmful vegetable oils are used in sit-down restaurants, even prestigious ones. I’ve written before about which fats are healthy, which to avoid, and why. It’s essential to familiarize yourself with good fats that make sense to the body vs bad fats that drive inflammation and contribute to weight gain and cellular dysfunction. As for how to sidestep these harmful oils, well, the solution is simple. As we discuss in the podcast, you must be “that person” willing to ask a few questions.

Don’t be shy to inquire about the oil being used to prepare your food. Canola oil is popular in restaurants. Even in cases where you’re told that the chef uses olive oil, it’s worth asking if the olive oil is pure or a blend. You’ll be surprised how often the answer is that the “olive oil” used is a mix of olive and canola. Even olive oil has its dangers with recent investigations uncovering rampant dilution and adulteration of “pure olive oil,” to the point where much of the olive oil found in stores can’t be trusted. My wife recently navigated this maze by simply requesting that the chef use butter to prepare her dish.

Avoiding the Carb Load

As Americans, we spike our glucose levels way too much. If restaurant entrees represent how Americans like to eat, then it becomes glaringly clear that we eat way too much sugar and too many carbs. There’s no better way to age faster than to continually spike glucose levels and overindulge in processed carbohydrates. Fortunately, there’s an simple way to sidestep the carb dump at restaurants, an approach that Ben and I use often: double up on vegetables and skip the carbs sides altogether. For example, instead of salmon, brussel sprouts and mashed potatoes, ask if the chef can double the sprouts and nix the taters. Couldn’t be easier.

I know that it can seem unmannerly or high-handed to ask a lot of questions of the waiter or request that your food be prepared in a certain way. But remember, like me and everyone else reaching for optimal health, you are simply trying to live life to the fullest, and create a body that can help you do this. I assure you’re not the first person to ask pointed questions about the menu, especially if it’s a restaurant that Warren, Ben, or my wife and I have visited. We must be the change we wish to see!

Biohacks for Tap Water

Just like any home, the tap water in hotels and workplaces are likely to be loaded with elements like chlorine and fluoride. In my recent article on thyroid health and corresponding CHTV podcast, we discuss the impact of halogenated elements like bromine, chlorine, and fluorine to thyroid health. These elements compete with iodine for space on cell receptors that are meant for the iodine. The problem is that these compounds cannot do for the body what iodine does, and the eventual result is thyroid dysfunction. Many realizing this take steps to install water filtration systems in their homes, but will often forget to plan for quality water when traveling.

Considering current airport regulations, it’s not always feasible to carry a supply of high quality water. You can, however, carry a portable filtration unit to remove these elements from tap water which are usually light and easy to pack. Look for one with a charcoal filter to ensure fluoride removal. As Ben suggests in the podcast, you can always stop by a local convenience store to pick up a few bottles of glass-bottled spring water, a far better alternative than drinking treated tap water.

Biohacks for Fighting Travel Fatigue

Adjusting to a different time zone can lead to trouble sleeping and fatigue, and many use sleeping pills or melatonin to help in the adjustment. I tend to choose more natural alternatives. My personal favorite for combating insomnia, especially when it’s anxiety-induced, is kava root. Kava can be very effective, but be sure to source high quality root. For me, high quality means certified organic, indigenously grown kava to ensure the flavonoids and phytochemicals that make kava effective are present. Note that kava root does impact the liver, so it’s is not an everyday herb. Use it only when you need it, not daily. Side note, you may also find Gabadone supplement useful.

Another fine option for handling travel stress and restlessness is CBD oil, a phytocannabinoid that works with your endocannabinoid system (ECS) to help reestablish homeostasis. We discuss CBD in depth in our CHTV podcast with Dr. Philip Blair. You can find superior quality CBD products at our dedicated website. Warren has tried combining CBD with tryptophan as a sleep aid finding it to be effective, but warns it can cause marked drowsiness and slowness in waking. Best not to try this if you have an early appointment.

Speaking of waking up, I doubt that you’ll want to start the day with toxins in your cup. I love coffee in moderation, but I don’t love the pesticides that often come with it which alarms me enough to avoid most coffee shops. Organic, shade-grown coffee can be very hard to find outside the home. Research the area where you’re traveling to see if there’s a local shop that offers organic coffee. Otherwise, do as Warren does and bring a supply of coffee grounds with you, along with a small pot to prepare your own coffee. Ben favors portable packets of instant coffee combined with medicinal mushrooms.

Conclusion

Whether you’re on the road traveling or just on-the-go around town, remember that you don’t have to compromise the great standards that you’ve set up at home. Look for organic snacks, or take some with you. Keep environmental and food toxins in mind and do what you can to minimize their impact. You’re only a few biohacks away from maintaining amazing health!

  1. Church, D., C. Hawk, AJ Brooks, O. Toukolehto, M. Wren, I. Dinter, and P. Stein. “Psychological trauma symptom improvement in veterans using emotional freedom techniques: a randomized controlled trial.” The Journal of nervous and mental disease. February 2013. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23364126

Keto Hummus

Keto Hummus

  • 4 cups cauliflower florets, steamed
  • 1/4 cup plus 1 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil, divided
  • 1 garlic clove, minced
  • 4-5 Tbsp. raw or roasted tahini
  • Juice of 1 lemon
  • Pinch of ground cumin
  • Sea salt and ground black pepper
  • Pinch of paprika, for garnish (optional)
  1. In a food processor, combine the steamed cauliflower, 1/4 cup of extra-virgin olive oil, garlic, tahini, lemon juice, and cumin and process until smooth.
  2. Add salt and pepper to taste, along with more tahini or olive oil if desired.
  3. Scoop the hummus into a serving dish and garnish with the remaining Tbsp. of olive oil, and paprika if desired.